Read this blog, and then write whatever you want about Tech Giants. Be sure to mention in your blog that you’re writing for Un-SQL Friday, and link to this post. Oh, and have it up any time before the weekend (Saturday Jan 22) hits, mmkay?

Last week on Twitter I asked:

Attn authors, MVPs, & bloggers: Who are the IT giants you talk to/read that make you feel like a technical poser? No fair saying “everyone”. (And we may as well rule out @PaulRandal, he’s a given.)

It’s wonderful that so many big names are so willing to give up so much content for free, and to be out there in the community. It’s a big part of what makes them big names, actually…one could be perfectly brilliant, but without a blog or a book, how would we know?

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The downside of this high availability of talent is that we’re constantly comparing ourselves to the big names. If you spend a lot of time tweeting and reading blogs and books of your IT heroes, you (okay, okay, “I”) inevitably start to measure the length of your knowledge against theirs, and fall far short.

But, any time this comes up with one of these industry giants, I always hear the same thing. “Thanks, but you should read [other industry giant]! S/he’s absolutely brilliant!” Heroes have heroes, stars have stars. Everyone has someone to admire, and that’s comforting.

Buck Woody (@BuckWoody): Too many to name. so many good friends at Microsoft, Google, UW, others. I learn from everyone.

Grant Fritchey (@GFritchey): Only one? There are quite a few. Not nearly enough room for twitter. Besides, you already listed several of them. @sqlqueen,Itzik,@AdamMachanic,@SQL_Kiwi (except when I’m mad at him),@PaulRandal,Dr.Dewitt,Jeff Moden. Most of those people make me feel stupid.

Paul Randal (@PaulRandal): Kimberly, Brent, Conor Cunningham, Bob Ward, Itzik Ben-Gan would be at the top of the list. Lots of other people who know lots about areas of SQL that I know nothing about, but those 5 are the giants that come to mind.

Adam Machanic (@AdamMachanic): Depends on what I’m working on that day … But at the top of the list would be Donald Knuth and Chris Date

Mladen Prajdic (@MladenPrajdic): I don’t hero worship anyone. simply because it’s all a matter of knowledge that can be acquired. Never felt that way. since we have to understand everyone can feel like that on for various stuff

Paul Randal (@PaulRandal): I don’t ever think about that. People I respect for their SQL knowledge and ability to convey it to others. Two things people often forget when thinking about #techgiants: 1) Everyone started with zero SQL knowledge. And 2) even the people that people most respect have silo’d knowledge. Everyone has *huge* knowledge gaps across SQL Server.